A bone marrow transplant can be a potentially life-saving procedure for those with leukemia. But for the process to work, the donor needs to be a close match. There are some 30 million people on the worldwide registry.

Rabaca is already a mother of three. Her sister is a 50 percent match, but doctors said it wasn't good enough to treat her aggressive acute myeloid leukemia.

She needed a 100 percent match, but Rabaca's mixed heritage - Latino and Caucasian - had made finding a donor difficult.

Rabaca and her family have been on a mission to sign up as many potential donors as possible.

The registry is particularly in need of people with mixed ethnic heritage for many other potential recipients without a match.

Registry officials said the thousands of new donations were more ethnically diverse than average.